The Boston Bruins signed five veteran players, including four forwards, on the first day of NHL free agency last weekend.
Despite those additions, there are still opportunities for some of the team's young players to make the roster with a strong training camp and preseason. Top prospect Fabian Lysell is one of the leading candidates.
Lysell is among the Bruins prospects attending the team's Development Camp this week. The 2021 first-round pick hasn't been a full participant because he's still working his way back from a concussion suffered in the first round of the AHL playoffs in April, but he's making great progress.
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"I think he’s continuing to take the steps forward,” Bruins assistant general manager Jamie Langenbrunner told reporters earlier this week. “Unfortunately for him, he took a cheap shot (in the playoffs) that slowed him a little bit this summer, but it was good on him to be here this week and working hard and it’s good to see him on the ice again."
The 2022-23 season with the Providence Bruins was a rollercoaster ride for Lysell. He started his first AHL campaign red-hot with 19 points in his first 20 games. Lysell joined Sweden in late December for the World Junior Championships and he tallied zero points in seven games. He returned to Providence and posted just 18 points in his last 34 regular season games before suffering a concussion in Game 3 of the first round. He didn't play another game in the series as the P-Bruins were eliminated by the Hartford Wolf Pack.
Overall, it was a good learning experience for Lysell, and he's hoping to use that as a springboard into a better opportunity in Boston.
“It’s a lot of new things, new things to take in. I feel like the start of the year was really good, the first four months. And then I had a dip there in January,” Lysell told reporters earlier this week. “I felt like I was kind of up and down the rest of the year. It's a lot of new things to take in, but looking back at it, I learned a lot of new things that I wouldn’t know before last year. So, I’m really looking forward to this upcoming year and I think I have more knowledge now that I’m really going to be able to use for next year.”
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The Bruins could definitely use someone with Lysell's offensive skill set. He has a great shot, his playmaking ability is fantastic and he plays the game with speed. He's not the best defensive right wing, but he's not a total liability in that regard, either.
It wouldn't be shocking if Lysell earned an NHL roster spot with a strong camp, and it sounds like that possibility is motivating him.
"I think everybody coming into camp is trying to make the team and I’m no different,” Lysell said. “I know last year was really good for me and I think coming into camp this year, I’m really going to put all my energy out there to make that team. I’ve been doing the camp now two times and I feel like now the third time I’m going to be even more focused and I’m really going to battle out there to take my spot."
Lysell making the team would be great for the Bruins, but they also need to take their time with the 20-year-old forward and ensure he's fully ready for that kind of responsibility.
He's one of just a couple B's prospects with top-six potential at the NHL level. If Lysell is truly ready in the fall, that's fine, but rushing his path to the NHL would be a huge mistake.